So you thought the tide was turning when you voted for “change?”  When medical marijuana was legalized? When Barney Frank and Ron Paul introduced a bill to decriminalize pot?  Not so fast.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole has  issued a Memo to clarify that the new boss is the same as the old boss.

Over the last several months some of you have requested the Department’s assistance in responding to inquiries from State and local governments seeking guidance about the Department’s position on enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in jurisdictions that have under consideration, or have implemented, legislation that would sanction and regulate the commercial cultivation and distribution of marijuana purportedly for medical use. Some of these jurisdictions have considered approving the cultivation of large quantities of marijuana, or broadening the regulation and taxation of the substance. You may have seen letters responding to these inquiries by several United States Attorneys. Those letters are entirely consistent with the October 2009 memorandum issued by Deputy Attorney General David Ogden to federal prosecutors in States that have enacted laws authorizing the medical use of marijuana (the “Ogden Memo”).

The Department of Justice is committed to the enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act in all States. Congress has determined that marijuana is a dangerous drug and that the illegal distribution and sale of marijuana is a serious crime that provides a significant source of revenue to large scale criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels. The Ogden Memorandum provides guidance to you in deploying your resources to enforce the CSA as part of the exercise of the broad discretion you are given to address federal criminal matters within your districts.

The War on Drugs just turned 40, but it’s still alive and kicking.  And drug are still as evil as ever, as far as the DOJ is concerned. 

Ironically, marijuana is a schedule I drug, meaning that is has no medicinal purpose and is highly subject to abuse.  Cole’s Memo, asserting that “Congress has determined that marijuana is a dangerous drug” just ignores the medical part, which is a little hard to reconcile with the whole point of medical marijuana.  The subtext is pot is evil, just as it was the day Reefer Madness made its debut.

Over the years, arguments about the evils and virtues of pot have gone in circles, and not until states began recognizing that it’s not just an alternative high, but an herb with legitimate medicinal purposes, did the rhetoric break free of the old arguments. 

The Obama/Holder DOJ had it within its power to lower the volume, if not give medical marijuana a free pass in the exercise of discretion and allocation of scarce resources.  Instead, it came out with this memo, letter prosecutors, states and the rest of us know that they are still gunning for pot as did their predecessors.

While the government may be pulling troops out of far away lands, there seems to be one war that won’t be ending any time soon.  We’re still a long way off from ending the ill-conceived ar on drugs that’s filled our prisons and empties our coffers, but this is a smack in the face to states and Congress, not to mention to those who voted for the current administration in the belief that our President might be just a little more open than the guy before him to the idea that eradicating drugs isn’t worth the price. 

Clearly, Cole thought this was necessary to say, and DOJ thinks that the eradication of marijuana remains one of our core priorities.  How is that “change” working for you?